Shearing apparatus for textile fabrics



Jan. 28, 1964 c. c. BELL ETAL 3,119,167

SHEARING APPARATUS FOR TEXTILE FABRICS Filed Oct. 17, 19 62 26 22 I i ii. I J I J m 7' I D// INVENTORS CHARLES C. BELL RALPH L. DAVIDSON ATTORNEY United States Patent of Massachusetts Filed Get. 17, 1962, Ser. No. 231,182 9 Claims. (Cl. 26-15) This invention relates to a new and improved shearing apparatus for textiles particularly for shearing broken ends from a textile web as it passes the shear, and one of the principal objects of the invention resides in the provision of an improved preparation of the ends to cause them to stand away from the web in easily sheared position whereby substantially all of such ends are thus operated upon to the general end that the quality of the goods is improved because many ends which in the prior art have been missed are cut by the present machine.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a combined brush and shear whereby the brush generally raises the ends to be cut from the textile web passing the brush and in which the shear then cuts the thus raised ends and including between the brush and the shear a new and improved high air velocity duct which avoids the free air from the prior art shear tending to blow the ends the wrong way and even to reverse the same so that the shear cannot cut them, said novel high air velocity duct not only keeping the raised ends raised by the brush in position but also enhancing this operation.

The invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly set forth in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation illustrating the invention, parts being in section and parts being broken away, and

FIG. 2 is a similar view showing a modification.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the reference numeral 10 represents a textile web which is traveling in the direction of the arrow, i.e., from left to right. This web may be supported by conventional means well known in the art and likewise it may be driven at speeds and tensions also well known in the art. However, this web has on it broken ends of thread which have been tied by the operator so that these ends are apparent on the cloth surface and have to be sheared off very close to the surface of the cloth.

This has usually been done by utilizing a rotary brush and a rotary shear, the rotary brush acting to raise the ends from the surface of the cloth in position so that the shear will cut them off, but in the prior art the free air occasioned by the shear itself acting as a fan often tends to blow the ends the wrong way and even to reverse them so that the shear blades cannot cut the ends, it being understood that the shear is an elongated roll or revolver having radially extending blades thereon, said blades normally being spiral in form from end-to-end of the revolver. The brush and the shear rotate in the same direction, i.e., counterclockwise as seen in FIG. 1, so that their adjacent surfaces rotate in the same direction as the travel of the cloth web but at a much greater speed, and this of course as will be clearly seen causes a free air fan effect impinging on the web and blowing the ends which have been scuffed up by the brush reversely so that they may be missed by the shear.

The present invention contemplates the provision of a hood generally indicated by the reference numeral 12 located about the shear, this hood leading to an air exhaust generally in the direction of arrow 14 in FIG. 1. The shear itself is generally indicated by the reference numeral 16 and may be of conventional design. The brush is indicated at 18. This brush may be conventional, but preferably it is provided with a great number of bristles scattered throughout the surface thereof rather than the usual four rows of bristles as in the prior art, so that the entire surface of the cloth is swept over without any gaps.

The hoop 12 comprises front, rear and side walls which enclose the shear and also preferably there is an interior member 20 extending from end-to-end of the shear which helps to direct the air in the direction desired.

The main feature of the present invention, however, resides in a forwardly projecting plate or the like which is generally indicated by the reference numeral 22. This is solidly attached to the front wall 24 of the hood 12, leaving no gap, and it is solidly positioned by its own inherent strength or by exterior brackets, etc. if necessary or desired to lie just above and in spaced relation with respect to the web 10. It being understood that there is tension on the web 19, it will be appreciated that the fiat plate 22 may be held in reasonably accurate spaced position above the web. This plate extends across the machine and the complete distance between the operative area of the shear and the operative area of the brush is clearly shown in FIG. 1, and is preferably provided with an upturned front end portion 26. The plate 22 forms a high velocity air duct which is the only means of access of the air into the hood 12. The air proceeds in the direction of the arrows therein, even in the direction of the dotted arrow 28 at least to some degree, and the suction of course is great enough to overcome any tendency of air to be blown by the blades of the shear in an undesired direction.

In other words, a high velocity air jet flows through the passage defined by the web It) and the plate 22 in the direction of travel of the web, and when the threads which are indicated at 30 are raised by the brush, they are held in raised position by the flow of the air in the duct. The duct needs no bottom or sides although these can be provided if such be found desirable. The effect of this is that there is no air derived from the shear to disturb the erect position of the broken ends 30. The brush causes them to move upwardly generally as shown and then the high velocity air causes them to remain in this position. The air even enhances this action so that when the web reaches the blades of the shear the broken ends are cleanly cut off and no ends are missed.

If desired, a longitudinal wick 32 can be utilized in the hood in order to close as much as possible the gap between the blades and the front wall 24 of the hood so that the air passing in the direction of dotted arrow 28 is negligible and certainly is not appreciable enough to effect the operation in any way.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the same general construction is shown but in this case the shear is indicated at 33, the brush at 34 and a plate 36 is shown which corresponds to plate 22 in FIG. 1. The same hood construction is also present, this being indicated at 38. The web is traveling to the left.

However, in this case there is an adjustable cloth rest which is indicated at 40, positioning the cloth with respect to the shear, and a plate 42 is attached to the cloth rest and extends past the shear in conjunction therewith to help support the cloth. This plate terminates in an arc at 44 which is concentric with the center of the cloth rest support 46, so that if the cloth rest is rotatively adjusted about the center of its support, the end at 44 maintains its original relationship with respect to the fabric web. Plate .2 acts as the bottom member of the duct which controls the flow of air along the fabric web passing through the machine. If not present, a pressure differential would be created from one face of the fabric web to the other which would draw the fabric into the cutting mechanism and damage it. Also there may be provided a member in the U form of a plate indicated at 4-8 forming a duct or bottom for the duct with plate 36 and plate 48 assumes the same general shape as plate 36 but reversed.

Having thus described our invention and the advantages thereof, We do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what We claim is:

1. The combination of a rotary brush and a rotary shear for shearing thread ends from a textile web traveling past and for cooperative relation with respect to the brush and shear, with means providing for a relatively high velocity air flow in a direction from the brush to and past the shear at the side of the web being operated upon, said means including a plate extending generally from the brush to the shear in spaced relation to the web and at the side of the web subject to the shearing action.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein the web and plate form a duct.

3. In a textile shear including a rotating brush and a rotating shear operating on a web passing the same first past the brush and then past the shear and in operative contact therewith, that improvement comprising means providing a controlled flow of air over the web in a direction from the brush to and past the shear and including a hood for the shear and a plate associated with the hood, said plate extending along and in spaced relation to the Web from the hood toward the brush.

4. In a textile shear including a rotating brush and a rotating shear operating on a web passing the same first past the brush and then past the shear and in operative contact therewith, that improvement comprising means providing a controlled flow of air over the web in a direction from the brush to and past the shear, said means directing the air flow generally away from the surface of the web being operated upon whereby thread ends raised by the brush are held raised to the shear, said means com- A prising a plate extending generally from the brush to the shear in spaced relation to the web and at the side of the web subject to the shearing action.

5. The textile shear recited in claim 4 wherein the means includes a hood for the shear, the plate being mounted on the hood and the plate and hood being continuous so that the air flow caused by the shear is prevented from reversing the end raising action of the firstnamed air fiow.

6. The textile shear recited in claim 4 wherein the plate is generally parallel to the line of advance of the web.

7. The textile shear recited in claim 4 including a second plate at the other side of the web.

8. The textile shear recited in claim 4 including a cloth rest adjacent the shear holding the web in operative position relative to the shear, said plate being mounted on the cloth rest and extending generally parallel to the web from the rest in the direction of the line of travel of the web.

9. The textile shear recited in claim 4 including a cloth rest adjacent the shear holding the web in operative position relative to the shear, said plate being mounted on the cloth rest and extending generally parallel to the web from the rest in the direction of the line of travel of the web, said plate including an arc-shaped terminal portion spaced from the rest, the plate and rest being adjustable about an axis and the arc of the terminal portion being substantially concentric to the axis.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,695,438 Bejeuhr Nov. 30, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 15,925 Great Britain of 1901 53,758 Switzerland Nov. 14, 1911 

1. THE COMBINATION OF A ROTARY BRUSH AND A ROTARY SHEAR FOR SHEARING THREAD ENDS FROM A TEXTILE WEB TRAVELING PAST AND FOR COOPERATIVE RELATION WITH RESPECT TO THE BRUSH AND SHEAR, WITH MEANS PROVIDING FOR A RELATIVELY HIGH VELOCITY AIR FLOW IN A DIRECTION FROM THE BRUSH TO AND PAST THE SHEAR AT THE SIDE OF THE WEB BEING OPERATED UPON, SAID MEANS INCLUDING A PLATE EXTENDING GENERALLY FROM THE BRUSH TO THE SHEAR IN SPACED RELATION TO THE WEB AND AT THE SIDE OF THE WEB SUBJECT TO THE SHEARING ACTION. 